New Europe
Ratings3
Average rating3.3
Until the early 1990s, when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, travelling behind the iron curtain was never easy. In undertaking his new journey through Eastern Europe, breathing in its rich history, filming its exquisite sights and talking to its diverse peoples, Michael fills what has been a void in his own experience and that of very many of his own generation. As in all his series, Palin's New Europe takes the form of a journey through countries which have rich and complex cultures. Few have survived intact, as the ebb and flow of warring armies has continually changed the map of Europe. Starting in the mountains of Slovenia he travels down through Croatia and the former Yugoslavia to Albania before turning northwards to embrace Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, The Ukraine, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, the former East Germany, Poland, the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (as Konigsberg originally home to the Teutonic Knights), Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, opening up a new and undiscovered world to millions of viewers and readers.
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This is true to form of Palin's other, well known travel books. He travels pretty quickly through a lot of places, and touches on them briefly in his books, accompanied by good photographs to illustrate his story. In each place he picks an interesting place, or person, or event, and focusses on that primarily for the chapter on that city. It is successful in a fairly light way, and I often find that Palin's introduction is where he does his deepest theorising.
New Europe is Palin's effort to catch up with those countries in Europe (Eastern Europe mainly) which have undergone the most change in the last decade. Completed in 2007, it is hard to reconcile that this book is already 10 years out of date.
He touches on twenty countries, across a book approx 280 pages long, gives about 14 pages each, around a third of which are taken up by photos (By Basil Pao, as all of Palins travel books are). So a brief touch in each country (listed in the shelving above).
I rated his earlier books when I joined Goodreads, and they mostly sit in 2 or 3 star slots (except Saraha, which I found a head above the rest at 4 stars). 2-3 stars for these books reflects that the enjoyed them, but didn't find them great. I guess one day I might re-read them, and might change my view, perhaps they are better than 2-3.
For me, this was a good 3 star read.
